365 Joys- October 22nd 2015

10/22/15

Our second Ponderize post!  Here is the second group of individual scirptures for our family.

They each pick their own for the week, or two weeks.




And here we picked up some treats for our trunk or treat...  NO we're not passing out the sugar, just the candy on top of the sugar.  Wait.

365 Joys- October 21st 2015

10/21/15

Just some fun ones.

Bring on the CHEESE...



Liberty lost another something.


And the tooth fairy forgot.  Again.



OH, and fun free stuff, our glow in the dark pens!  Like glow sticks that write.

I'll post pictures of how they actually look after Halloween.

365 Joys- October 20th 2015

10/20/15

Emilie being queen of darkness.




She's not usually like this...


She DOES like playing with makeup.

She will do all the kids makeup for Halloween. 

365 Joys- October 19th 2015

10/19/15

Even more awesomeness... pictures of Michael in a BYU sweatshirt.


He says he feels "official."

365 Joys- October 18th 2015

10/18/15

What's this?   Someone has drawn a "Y" on our calendar... hmm.  What could this mean?


That someone is pretty happy about being accepted to BYU.  (he'll defer because of a mission, but still... sooooo exciting!  Even more so because it kinda validates the whole homeschooling thing, too.)

365 Joys- October 17th 2015

10/17/15

Benjamin made "Elite" status at his job where he reached a certain sales goal.  This was "the Packet" and he got a fist bump haha.  They also get a special recognition dinner/party after the season is over.



Go Benjamin!

365 Joys- October 16th 2015

10/16/15

Michael wanted to celebrate his acceptance to BYU with a pizza party!

Thanks to generous gifts, he was so happy to share with family!

365 Joys- October 15th, 2015

10/15/15

Benjamin and his bearded dragon, Martin.

He's 2 years old now.



He keeps a close eye on me.


He has some great colors!


And of course Jules loves him.

365 Joys- October 14th 2015

10/14/15

Eat this we will.


Fun stuff while Dad is travelling.




OOh, and Samuel all dressed up to go to a performance at the Kansas City Symphony tonight with the Webelos.

365 Joys- October 13th, 2015

10/13/15


Michael looking a little startled.  He took this himself... and this is BEFORE he checked his messages on his phone and found out he got accepted to BYU!

(he found out a week before that he was accepted to BYU-Idaho, but wanted to know about Provo before telling anyone!)




Silly kids.


Pictures of the temple.  We were up at the church for the evening taking kids to Scouts, Young Women, Prospective Elders class, Cub Scouts, etc.  Tom usually takes everyone but he was in Pennsylvania for 3 days...

The rest of us walked around the temple a few times, talked to the temple matron, enjoyed the sunset.  It was a nice evening.


Enjoy!




Here's your faith promoting story for the evening.  Christopher is wearing a CTR ring here, right?  This was early in the walk. Well, right after Timothy was done with Cub Scouts but we were still waiting for the other kids, Christopher suddenly realized he didn't have his CTR ring anymore.  You can see it's dark, right?  I thought, there is no way we are going to find it.   However, we went over every inch of gravel he says he lost it in.  Twice.  We walked up and down the sidewalk 4 times.  I was about 50 feet away checking one place with the girls in the stroller and Timothy, Christopher, Liberty and Samuel were just losing hope but still trying.  I looked at them and said a prayer.  I literally, just stood there and said, Please, if it's possible, Heavenly Father, let them find the ring and know you helped them find it.  As I said Amen, they looked down, literally right then, and jumped up with the ring.  And I told them that this happened.  So there you go.  Faith on behalf of my children and their faith can work miracles.  The CTR ring is found.




 

365 Joys- October 12th 2015

10/12/15

Juliana and Liberty at the computer, playing math games.  Really.  I love homeschooling.




Fresh salsa.   YUM!

365 Joys- October 11th 2015

10/11/2015

All the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  This is just in the order of their speaking in General Conference (and then the three new apostles.)

We printed the pictures from lds.org but we'd love new official pictures.

Plus the Book of Mormon chart from Michael's challenge :)

365 Joys- October 10th 2015

10/10/15

We picked up a few more cell phones (tracfone, under $5 for the phone and we're just paying for minutes) for flexibility.  I wanted updated pics so I'd know who I was calling or who was calling me.  No, they're not really the kids' phones, just necessary outposts of contacting each other.

So... here's Michael.  His # used to be just the kids' phone number.  It will be Emilie's when Michael goes to parts unknown.



And here's Benjamin.  He's got a new #.




The other phone will most likely be our home phone (same # we have now).  We're working through details of whether we want to cut the landline or not.

This is Timothy.  We just like him.  He doesn't need a cell phone.




This was on the way home from a special event celebrating Emilie's receiving the Stake President's Family History award.  To read more about this VERY awesome accomplishment (what she did to earn it) click here.  I don't have a picture of her with her award yet...

365 Joys- October 9th 2015

10/9/15

I'm very sad about this.  We've had this wagon for a long time.  Uncle Abram got it for the kids when we were living in Ohio.  Sometime in 2002 or 2003 when Nathanael was either on the way or just a tiny guy.

The wheels just broke off.  I don't know if it's fixable.  It's had a good, long, valuable life.  We will try to see how to fix it.

Sadness.



Kids were a little crazy today.  Fall weather, feeling great, lots of fun this week.


Nathanael


Benjamin


Christopher


They're all just silly today.

365 Joys- October 8th 2015

10/8/15

I was at the grocery store when I saw this.


I did a complete double take.



Explanation: I worked at Baskin Robbins as a teen and even a summer in college and Baskin Robbins stores are the only place you can buy Baskin Robbins ice cream.


I'm still in shock.

365 Joys- October 7th 2015

10/7/15

One of the General Conference talks was by Devin G. Durrant, a former BYU basketball player and a member of the general Sunday School Presidency... it was about pondering the scriptures, even one verse at a time.  (check it out if you haven't heard it or read it)


These are the verses my family is "ponderizing" (a mix of memorizing and pondering) this week.

Everyone who can read is participating.  We actually chose them during Family Home Evening and will continue to choose new scriptures each week.




We also are making the switch from low Google Fiber and U-Verse TV to high Google Fiber and Google TV.

Figuring out finances and what's worth having.

365 Joys- October 6th 2015

10/6/15

Today we dropped everything and went to the zoo.  I didn't even bring my camera.

I did have my phone and caught a few fun moments.

This was Ginny's first time since becoming "aware" of animals and sounds and such.

As much as we love the zoo, it was even more fun seeing it through her eyes.

The only downside were honeybee swarms, including a bee that went up Juliana's nose.
We shooed it off and no harm done.


Ginny watching penguins swim.



Ginny saying "hi" to the tiger.



Benjamin and Juliana in matching zombie shirts.


The hippos at the hippo chat.  We found out they were named "Liberty" and "Labor Day".
That was quite interesting!  Our Liberty was thrilled.  (the pink stuff is watermelon remains)


All the kids on a new bear sculpture at the front of the zoo.

365 Joys- October 5th 2015

10/5/15

We love extended family birthday cards!